Fatu Gayflor

Fatu was “discovered” as a child in a village in Lofa County: A representative of the National Cultural Troupe was visiting the area, searching for young talent. She noted Fatu’s energy, and asked Fatu’s parents for permission to take her back to Kendeja, the home of the National Cultural Troupe, with her.

Fatu, who is of ethnic Loma heritage, stayed in Kendeja from 1978 – 1985, when she left to form her own performing ensemble, Daughters of King N’Jollah. She also became a superstar recording artist. Fatu is known as "Princess Fatu Gayflor, the Golden Voice of Liberia." Indeed, it was the president of Liberia who gave her that name. She lived in the Ivory Coast and Guinea as a refugee following the eruption of the civil war in Liberia. The United Nations asked her to sing to fellow refugees, to inspire the re-building of community and hope.

Now a resident of the United States, where she has been since 1998, she performs at Liberian community events across the country. In 2013, Fatu co-founded and became the artistic director of the Liberian Women’s Chorus for Change, an ensemble of highly-accomplished Liberian women singers, dancers and songwriters, all based in Philadelphia. Fatu has been honored with a Leeway Foundation Transformation Award (2013) and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts (2014). In 2015, she was artist-in-residence at Brandeis University’s Creativity, Arts and Social Transformation program, where she performed and taught in conflict resolution, ethnomusicology, dance and women’s studies classes. In 2017 the United Liberian Association of Bucks County honored Fatu for her years of devotion to nurturing Liberian arts.